Preston North End Vs Ipswich Town
Coca-Cola Championship Saturday 28th February 2009
With North End's dismal away form continuing at the weekend, it is imperative that the Lilywhites get themselves back on track by using their impressive home form to their advantage.
After coming away with nothing from their 500 mile round trip to Southampton, Preston are left precariously looking over their shoulders at the chasing pack. Saturday's visitors Ipswich fall into that category and are just three points behind North End despite finding themselves in tenth place.
Jim Magilton's Ipswich are on a mini-run of two wins in a row having beaten Forest 2-1 at home before seeing off QPR at Loftus Road last Saturday. A win for the Tractor Boys could rocket them in to the play-off mix whilst a defeat could put daylight between them and the teams currently occupying those all important play-off spots.
Previous Meetings
North End have of course already played Ipswich this season back on the opening day of the current campaign. Despite finding themselves 1-0 down afterjust two minutes, North End fought back to emerge a victors with Paul McKenna equalising on 21 minutes and Simon Whaley reversing the score on 34.
The corresponding fixture last season ended up with a similar score-line, just in the reverse order. Alan Lee and old boy Tommy Miller put the Tractor Boys 2-0 up before Neil Mellor netted a consolation penalty with two minutes to go.
Last season's visit of Ipswich to Deepdale ended in a 2-2 draw. Tommy Miller put the visitors ahead before Chris Brown equalised just after the half-hour mark. Neil Mellor thought he had the game won in the 79th minute only to see Jonathan Walters rescue a point for Jim Magilton's side.
Ipswich haven't won at Deepdale since the 5th January 1980 when the Tractor Boys comfortably beat North End 3-0 in the FA Cup. In their last 7 visits, there have been 3 draws and 4 Preston wins. Fingers crossed and Preston's good fortunes at home to Ipswich will continue this Saturday.
Team News
Preston have already been hit with the news that Chris Sedgwick will be out for three weeks with a hernia problem meaning that Simon Whaley could step in to fill the void. Andrew Davies was taken off at half-time during Saturday's visit to St Mary's due to a hamstring strain and could miss out meaning that Youl Mawene is likely to step in.
Although Callum Davidson and Neil Mellor are making good progress in terms of recovering from their respective injuries, this Saturday's game is deemed to be too soon for the pair.